


At Moon Falls

by pentapus



Category: Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Genre: Dorks, F/M, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:02:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2787623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentapus/pseuds/pentapus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What happened to him?” Jade asked. </p><p>“Diplomacy,” Stone said, bored like he hadn’t dragged her half-conscious first consort into the common room of the queen’s level and deposited him as a sodden lump in the middle of the rug.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Moon Falls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yopumpkinhead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yopumpkinhead/gifts).



“I hate consorts,” Moon mumbled into the floor of the queen’s level. He felt a warm, scaled hand slide over the back of his neck, a gentle question.

“What happened to him?” Jade’s voice. Jade’s hand. 

“Diplomacy,” Stone said, bored like he hadn’t dragged her half-conscious first consort into the common room and deposited him as a sodden lump in the middle of the rug. The heated pipes had warmed the layered rugs, and Moon had no interest in rolling over and answering questions that were going to make him look like an idiot -- or in speaking ever again, really.

“No one knows what that means,” said a grumpy male voice a little higher than Stone’s. Chime had followed them, so that was part one of Moon’s most embarrassing way this could go, check. For someone raised in a society where multiple partners were the norm, Chime had an odd jealous streak that popped up -- as far as Moon could tell -- at completely unpredictable times.

A whoosh of air sounded at the entrance, followed by scrabbling claws that transitioned to running feet. Someone’s knees fetched up against Moon’s ribs in a wash a perfumed air. From the smell, Moon could tell that the new arrival was Ember and that he was in groundling form, impeccably dressed. Ember had taught Moon that consorts ought to always store their clothes with packets of sweet-smelling spices, lest they ever have to dress quickly and be caught smelling like regular Raksura.

“ _Moon_ ,” Ember burst out miserably.

Moon pushed himself to his feet, annoyed by but grateful for Stone’s hand that appeared under his elbow. Jade could handle Moon moping on the floor, but Ember would worry. It didn’t matter that Moon had lived away from Raksuran culture his whole life, it had been all too easy to absorb the the idea that Ember was cherished and frail. To worry him unnecessarily was worse than rude; it was crass.

“I’m fine,” Moon said, promptly dissolving into coughs as the water still in his lungs made itself known. 

“What happened?” Jade asked again. Her tone had gone from curious to dangerous, arms crossed and spines rising like a ship making sail.

Stone rolled his eyes. “Shadow propositioned him, and he fell into the pond.”

“That isn’t what happened,” Moon said, shivering. _It’s mostly not what happened._

“No, of course not!” Ember promised, eyes round and attentive.

Moon glared at Ember. Jade’s eyebrows lifted, and Stone let out an amused snort. 

Because Ember was a proper consort -- what Moon should have been if Indigo Cloud weren’t the bastard younger brother of the black sheep of the Raksura -- he wouldn’t dream of contradicting the colony’s first consort in public. Since everybody present was fully aware of Ember’s etiquette, it was just as if he’d said, _Yes, that’s exactly what happened._

“Moon,” Jade said sympathetically. 

“That isn’t what happened,” Moon said again.

“Sort of,” Stone said because he was an asshole. “Shadow and his warriors wanted a tour outside the tree, and the Moon Falls are the prettiest thing nearby, so we went there.”

“They're not really called that,” Moon said for about the twelfth time. Of all a first consort’s duties, receiving diplomats was his least favorite. He could handle protecting people and loving Jade and all the children, but trying to make visiting consorts feel luxurious while their queens postured with Pearl -- he felt like he’d never have the knack. Usually he was grateful for Ember providing at least a hint in the right direction, but this time he’d managed to make a mess even with Ember’s help.

“They really are called that,” Chime said, still sounding pouty. “It’s in the records -- ” he backpedaled slightly at Moon’s narrowed glance, “-- which means they aren't named after you.”

“The point is,” Stone said, “Shadow got too close, Moon fell off the branch and startled a rock spider, and it knocked him into the pool.”

Jade’s eyebrows went up, her spines sinking back to neutral.

“Which is when we found out that the extra rain this month caused a bloom of lake hydra. The big ones,” Chime added.

Quick as lightning the spines came back up.

“-- but he’s alive!” Chime finished with false brightness, belatedly sensing dangerous ground.

“Yeah,” Stone agreed, deadpan. Then, in the same tone of deep ennui: “Everybody get out.” Chime dug in his heels, but eventually Ember shooed him out of the bower using a warrior’s ingrained reluctance to shove a consort out of the way.

Moon walked unevenly towards Jade’s hanging bed, Stone shoring him up the whole way. The rugs felt good under his bare feet.

“Why didn’t you take him to his own bower?” he heard Jade ask. 

“Because the idiot invited the entire consort half of the party to stay there. I didn’t want him to trip on a rug and brain himself if that fancy asshole looked at him again.”

“Invited them to stay? No wonder they thought -- ” but Moon chose that moment to tumble over the side of the bed and into the piled blankets, not interested in hearing exactly how he’d brought this on himself.

He felt Stone’s hand come down on his shoulder, and then Stone said quietly, “It’s not that bad. That guy’s been knocking people off of branches with a look since before you were born. You don’t owe him anything.”

He heard Stone leave the bower, footsteps quiet against the woven rugs. Then it was just Jade’s weight causing the bed to swing, the light dimming as she brought her wings over him like a canopy. He rolled gratefully towards her, leaning into her warmth like a flower to the sun.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Did he really proposition you? You know that’s alright, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Moon said softly. "I think so -- I mean, I think he did.” It wasn’t like Moon really knew for sure. Shadow had been first consort to a huge, wealthy colony with a queen three times his age and he was still decades older than Moon. Emerald Twilight probably had a hundred secret hand signs for setting up pre-arranged trysts. 

“Well, with his queen dead, he’s probably lonely. She was so much older.” 

“And that makes him some kind of diplomat now -- I know. Chime explained. But I don’t understand why he came here on his grand tour of the Reaches.” 

“Did it bother you that much?” Jade asked. “I thought you knew Raksura don’t -- you can just say no.”

“I know,” Moon mumbled uncomfortably. Shadow was the oldest consort Moon had ever met who wasn’t a line grandfather and the first one who seemed to bleed magic into the air around him. He wore the rich fabrics and jewelry of his rank like they were as comfortable to him as old traveling clothes were to Moon. Yet he still looked interested when he could coax Moon to speak and admiring when Moon flew with him in graceful curves through the mist of the waterfall.

Jade turned thoughtful. “It’s a little unusual Shadow being from another colony, but he’s not a threat to me, so it wasn’t rude of him to ask. People _are_ going to keep asking you because you’re beautiful -- ”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Moon said, hoping to cut this off before it went further. He pressed his cheek into her neck, his eyelashes brushing against the softer scales that ran from under her chin down to her belly. He stroked his thumb over her hip.

Jade’s hand brushed his hairline, rolling him gently over so she could look him in the eye. Her face had gone from the overly gentle expression she used to reassure her weird, feral consort to one of narrow-eyed suspicion. The corner of her mouth twitched with a concealed smile. Moon stared desperately at the ceiling, hoping he wasn’t blushing.

“I think,” she said, “I may be misinterpreting this little fall into the pool.”

Moon put his hands over his face. “He just says everything right _all the time._ And he’s so tall -- and clean.”

Jade let out a delighted peal of laughter. “Does that do it for you?”

“Only in old consorts who are perfect and know it and are nice to you anyway,” Moon admitted miserably.

“Well,” Jade said, indulgent and deeply annoying, “ _I_ don’t find that sort of thing appealing, but I won’t throw him out of bed if he wanders in.”

“Only if Chime doesn’t poison him first,” Moon mumbled, tipping his head back to let her nip at the vulnerable flesh beneath his ear. As her hands ran down his sides, slipping easily under his shirt, he closed his eyes and let himself imagine a tall, perfectly poised consort stroking his hair while Jade’s wings wrapped around them both.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, remember that time Moon went to Emerald Twilight, and their very aristocratic first consort mildly mind-whammied him into coming up for tea? Yeah, I remember it too.


End file.
